'Nova Scotians at Home and Abroad'

The Nova Scotia Archives recently digitized a large number of old and fragile nitrate negatives, all previously unseen, and now we've uploaded a selection of the results to a new NS Archives site on Flickr.

There you'll find a selection of 150 stunning turn-of-the-last-century black-and-white photos showing Nova Scotians having fun at home and far away, including the Canadian West, America, Italy, Japan, maybe Russia…. and some places we can't identify. Perhaps you can help us?

The images were digitized from superior-quality nitrate negatives and provide an incredibly crisp and 'immediate' viewing experience. The photographers included James Fraser Paige, George Walker MacKay, Arthur Bloomfield Dawson, Ben Church Hicks, William Ringsleben and several others, all of whom were Nova Scotians or spent time in the province. We don't have much additional information, however, since the negatives came with little metadata — photo titles, locations, descriptions, years, and other important details were generally not recorded.

Now, a century after the photos were taken, we're inviting Nova Scotians and international users to visit our Flickr site and help us build the missing pieces. You can link to Flickr and look at everything as a visitor without registering, or you can sign up for a Flickr account and join our crowd-sourcing dialogue. We're looking for details such as locations, landmarks, the identity of those photographed, the year or decade, and other pieces of information that will add useful context.

We look forward to your contributions! Tags added to the photos will be screened by Archives' staff for accuracy and then used in the next few months to create a permanent virtual exhibit on our home website www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm.

 

Photographer Biographies (Click on the link to go directly to their photos on Flickr)

James Fraser Paige was born 13 December 1873 in Pictou NS, the son of James William Fraser and Catherine (Cameron). He was educated at Leytonstone School, London, England, 1878-1887, and completed his mechanical engineering studies at the Mechanics Institute, Truro NS, in 1896. From 1898 to 1941, he was employed as an engineer for shipbuilding companies in Canada and the United States, and also worked in Japan and Italy. He married May Murray, of Truro on 22 December 1897 and they had two children, Emeline and Murray. Paige died 16 February 1942 in Orange, Texas.

George Walker MacKay was born 18 September 1880. His father George Forrest MacKay was the founder (in New Glasgow) of the steel industry of Canada. G.W. MacKay was an original partner in the founding of Canada's first Salt Mine at Malagash NS; his association with it dated from 1917, a span of 55 years. He died 10 April 1972 at the age of 92.

Arthur Bloomfield Dawson was born in Montreal on 5 January 1879. He attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, which trained YMCA employees. After he graduated in 1905, he worked as physical director of YMCA centres in Concord, NH; Lacrosse, Wisconsin; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Calgary, Alberta. From 1915 to 1923, Dawson was director of the YMCA in Halifax. Then he accepted a post in New London, Connecticut. He and his wife Mary, returned to Halifax in the late 1940s. Dawson was interested in playground work throughout his career and was a supervisor of playgrounds on the Central Commons, Halifax. His last position was acting director of recreation for the City of Halifax. He retired in 1957 and died in Halifax on 8 August 1968.

Ben Church Hicks was born at Bridgetown NS in 1901, son of John Herbert Hicks and his second wife Henrietta (Armstrong). He studied arts and applied science at Mount Allison and McGill universities, receiving a B.Sc. in electrical engineering from McGill in 1927. Hicks resided in Montreal and was employed in the electrical utility industry for 39 years as a consulting engineer with the Shawnigan Water and Power Company and its successor, the Quebec Hydro Electric Commission. A noted authority on tidal power, he also belonged to a number of professional associations including the Engineering Institute of Canada, Corporation of Engineers of Quebec, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Hicks married his first wife, Grace May Morrison (Watson) (1890-1943) in Montreal in 1934. Retiring in 1966, Hicks and his second wife Constance moved to the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia where he was very active in community affairs including the establishment of the Annapolis Valley Pioneer Museum. He died at Halifax on 26 November 1982.

William Ringsleben (biographical information unknown at this time)

Reg Blakely (biographical information unknown at this time)

Frank McNutt (biographical information unknown at this time)